Immortality begins with the Swordsman.

Chapter 17 Ouyang Qingzhao

"The Five Mountains Sword Sect is shameless and despicable. They lose in martial arts competitions and resort to underhanded tactics to harm people."

"Zhang Chengyun and Zhang Chengfeng completely shattered the Huashan Sword Technique."

"Fan Song and Zhao He broke the Hengshan sword technique here."

"..."

After the torches went out, the three of them slowly retreated from the cave, with no intention of going back in anytime soon.

Gu Changfeng said indignantly, "Master, who exactly are those people? How dare they insult my Five Mountains Sword Sect like this?"

After a moment of contemplation, Daoist Zixiao slowly spoke: "They are the ten elders of the Demonic Sect."

"The Ten Elders of the Demonic Sect?" Ning Zhongze exclaimed in surprise, "Then how could they have died on our Mount Hua?"

Gu Changfeng secretly gave the girl a thumbs up; he was almost at his breaking point.

Master Zixiao seemed lost in memories, and after a long while he said, "This is a long story, I will tell you in detail another day."

Gu Changfeng quickly said, "Master, it's still early, please take your time, we're not in a hurry."

Master Zixiao glared at him, and finally began to explain: "This matter begins with my father, Yue Su, and your Uncle Cai's father, Cai Zifeng... More than thirty years ago, the Huashan Sect had not yet been divided into the Sword and Qi factions."

Gu Changfeng listened intently.

The following content is largely the same as the original work—

Yue Su and Cai Zifeng secretly read the martial arts manual "Sunflower Manual" at the Shaolin Temple in Putian. Due to time constraints, they could not read the entire book at the same time and could only memorize half of it.

When the two returned to Mount Hua and compared their records, they discovered that their notes did not match at all. They both suspected that the other was hiding something, which led to their disagreement.

The Huashan School's sword and qi sects originated from this.

Soon after, the Sun Moon Cult learned that the Huashan Sect possessed the "Sunflower Manual" and launched a large-scale attack on Huashan.

The Huashan Sect suffered a bloodbath, with countless disciples killed or wounded. Yue Fei and Cai Shu also died at the sect's gates, and the Sunflower Manual ultimately fell into the hands of the Demonic Sect.

"I thought the matter of the manual was over."

Master Zixiao continued, "But five years later, for some unknown reason, the Demonic Sect suspected that the stolen 'Sunflower Manual' was a forgery, and they attacked again. They even threatened to exterminate my entire Huashan Sect if we did not hand over the real 'Sunflower Manual'."

"At that time, Mount Hua was almost devoid of masters and there was a shortage of young talents. Your Uncle Cai and I were barely twenty years old when we were supporting the sect, and we were simply powerless to compete with them."

"Even if we wanted to compromise, there was no more genuine copies of the Sunflower Manual to give to the Demonic Sect, so it was almost a certain death situation."

Gu Changfeng frowned as he listened, never expecting that his master and the others had faced such a difficult situation back then.

The Purple Cloud Daoist changed his tone and said, "Just then, Ouyang stepped forward."

"Ouyang?"

Gu Changfeng asked in surprise, "Is it Uncle-Master Ouyang Qingzhao?"

With the compound surname Ouyang and the generation name Qing, there is only one Ouyang Qingzhao from the Sword Sect on the mountain.

However, this person was away from home most of the year, and he had only met him a few times. In his memory, Ouyang Qingzhao was only in his forties, and he was somewhat thin and weak. He did not look like a swordsman, but rather like a frail scholar.

"Exactly!" Daoist Zixiao nodded slightly: "At that time, Ouyang offered a plan to invite masters from the four sects of Songshan, Hengshan and others to help us with a large sum of money, and then challenge the ten elders of the Demonic Sect to a duel. If we were defeated, we would hand over the Sunflower Manual to them."

Ning Zhongze asked instinctively, "So, did we win?"

"Silly girl!" Gu Changfeng lightly tapped her head: "If we win, there won't be any talk of 'shameless, despicable, and underhanded' tactics."

"Oh..." Ning Zhongze stuck out her tongue and remained silent, feeling embarrassed.

Master Zixiao smiled calmly and said, "That's right, we suffered a crushing defeat in that battle. So, Ouyang told the ten elders of the Demonic Sect that the real 'Sunflower Manual' was engraved on the stone wall inside the cave. They believed him and fell right into Ouyang's trap, getting trapped and dying inside."

Gu Changfeng's eyes flickered, concealing a myriad of thoughts.

The original work only briefly mentions the deaths of the ten elders of the Demonic Sect, but no one expected that it was actually the work of Uncle Ouyang.

At the time, Ouyang Qingzhao was only in his early twenties, yet he was able to turn the tide in that perilous situation. Such skill and courage are truly admirable.

No wonder, now that he is in charge of Chang'an, he can single-handedly keep the villains from causing trouble.

Master Zixiao sighed, "This matter is not honorable, but it's still better than having one's entire sect wiped out. Therefore, those who know about it keep silent, only saying to the outside world that the ten elders of the Demonic Sect have died in battle."

"The Demonic Sect is inherently wicked; they deserve to be trapped and die!" Gu Changfeng said coldly.

"Hmph, that's right," Ning Zhongze said through gritted teeth.

Master Zixiao smiled and said, "It's best if you keep this to yourselves and don't tell anyone else."

Gu Changfeng and Ning Zhongze exchanged a glance and nodded solemnly.

Master Zixiao's tone suddenly changed, and his expression became solemn. "Changfeng, do you still remember the question I asked you before I went into seclusion? Now that you know the reason for the distinction between sword qi, I will ask you again—is it right or wrong to prioritize the sword, prioritize qi, or emphasize both sword and qi?"

Gu Changfeng pondered for a moment and replied, "Although this disciple does not believe the Sword Sect is wrong, in this disciple's heart, the Sword Sect's path is ultimately a minor path; while my Qi Sect's path is the glorious and righteous path!"

Upon hearing this, Daoist Zixiao was puzzled, as this was the first time he had heard such a statement, so he asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Gu Changfeng's voice was low and deep: "Master, our Huashan Sect is a branch of Taoism. What Taoism seeks is immortality and ascension to heaven!"

He didn't give Daoist Zixiao time to think and continued, "Looking across the world, Shaolin, Wudang, Songshan, the Demonic Sect, and other sects all have different martial arts styles, but when it comes to immortality and attaining immortality, only my Huashan Qi Sect has that one chance..."

Master Zixiao frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Where did this sliver of opportunity come from?"

Gu Changfeng explained, "There are countless martial arts techniques in the world, like stars in the sky. But in my opinion, they are all just fancy moves used for competing and winning. Only our sect's 'Purple Cloud Divine Skill' is the most profound, possessing the effect of preserving youth that ordinary people dream of. By extension, it offers a sliver of hope for immortality..."

Ning Zhongze, who was standing to the side, listened with her eyes shining and muttered to herself, "So the 'Purple Cloud Divine Skill' is this powerful. I want to learn it too..."

Master Zixiao's lips twitched, and he said with a dark face, "You've overblown it."

He patted Gu Changfeng on the shoulder and said earnestly, "It's good for young people to have ideals, but they should be down-to-earth and think less about those unrealistic things."

Upon hearing this, Ning Zhongze immediately gave Gu Changfeng a resentful look: "Second Senior Brother, you're fooling people again."

Gu Changfeng chuckled and said to Daoist Zixiao, "Master, in my opinion, our Qi Sect is the true lineage of Mount Hua. The Sword Sect! The Sword Sect! In the end, it's just a 'protective sword'."

Master Zixiao's gaze suddenly sharpened, and he said, "From your perspective, that's not wrong, but you will be the one to inherit the sect in the future. Your vision cannot be limited to one corner. You must look at the whole picture from a higher perspective in order to see it clearly."

His expression was solemn, and his tone was low: "In fact, for the development of a sect, there is nothing wrong with emphasizing the sword or emphasizing qi. Only emphasizing both sword and qi is a big mistake."